Catnip (Nepeta cataria, Fam. Lamiaceae), an aromatic herb from southwestern Asia, is best known for causing a euphoric effect on domestic cats and other members of the feline family due to nepetalactones, volatile compounds contained in the essential oil of the plant. The aromatic volatiles of catnip are produced in the glandular trichomes in the leaf epidermis. Because of the morphological nature of the bilabiate bisexual flowers, this plant can self-pollinate as well as outcross. Current production methods utilize seeds and transplants from undomesticated populations, though more recently two cultivars have been developed, each distinctly different from the disclosed ‘CR3’ cultivar. While well known for modifying felines behavior, the essential oils from N. cataria are a potent insect repellent and comparable to the benchmark repellent DEET (Bernier et al., Med. Entomol. 42:306-311, 2005). N. cataria's essential oil repels mosquitoes that carry the plasmodium for malaria, the yellow fever virus and others.
Catnip's volatile oil effectively repels mosquitoes, including the females that carry the plasmodium causing malaria and those that transmit yellow fever, filariasis, the West Nile virus, and encephalitis, for a total of six different mosquito species repelled (Abdelkrim and Mehlhorn. 2006. Parasitol. Res. 99:478-490; Bernier et al., 2005. Med. Entomol. 42:306-311; Birkett et al., 2011. Phytochemistry. 72:109-114; Chauhan et al., 2012. J. Amer. Mosquito Control Assn. 28:301-306). N. cataria plants were tested in parallel with 41 other plants and were among the top five most efficient repellents (Abdelkrim and Mehlhorn. 2006. Parasitol. Res. 99:478-490).
Nepetalactone, the active ingredient present in catnip plant extracts, occurs as two major isomers: Z, E- and E, Z-nepetalactone. These two diastereomeric isomers are structurally very similar and differ only in the orientation of substituents across one bond.

Catnip is largely undomesticated, and little breeding has been undertaken to improve the plant's horticultural traits. Undomesticated populations of N. cataria plants do no stand erect and often lie on the soil floor or do not grow sufficiently upright not allowing the use of mechanical harvesters. Catnip is also susceptible to environmental stresses such as cold temperatures and thus in many cases do not survive winter conditions in northern temperate zones or suffers from severe winter injury. There have been two cultivars described as improvements over nondomesticated catnip (Reichert et al., HortScience. 51(5):588-591, 2016; US 2016/0183432) that one otherwise finds in seed catalogs or in commercial seed catalogs, and the new variety disclosed herein is distinct from both of those and all others on the commercial marketplace. The two cultivars described as improvements over nondomesticated catnip were identified as rich in Z, E-nepetalactone while the disclosed ‘CR3’ variety was purposefully bred to be rich in E, Z-nepetalactone, while still accumulating Z, E-nepetalactone. While originally selecting N. cataria populations for physical structure and ease of mechanical harvesting, focus shifted toward creating a catnip cultivar with high economical impact and a specific unique chemical profile. The ‘CR3’ variety also produces uniform seeded progeny allow farmers to decrease their costs by not using higher cost transplants. The use of transplants is more costly due to the production and labor costs associated with them. Commercialization of N. cataria plants for biomass, essential oil, and E, Z-nepetalactone for pet and new insect repellent products remains challenging.